Prayer of Jabez II

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.

We don't get the details of how Jabez's past but I make a theological guess that it wasn't good. There are three categories of people, those who live in the past, those who live in the present and those who live in the future. 

Those who live in the past are ever conscious of their history of failures and successes. They cry foul of the way they were raised, the missed opportunities and always dream about the good old days. They used to pray, have money, have this or that but they nolonger have those. Those who live in the present don't have a care of the past or the future. Their's is now or never. If they get money, it has to get used up today in the pleasures and current pressures and emergencies. They have no remembrance of yesterday's faults which ought to be learning points for today and probably the future. They have no care of tomorrow, for they have a sense that somehow it will work out. Either way they accept what comes and usually don't like to take responsibility for it. Then there are those future living or thinking folks. They are good dreamers of how things ought to be. So in effect today or yesterday matters less. They are forward looking, lurching forward with strength and vigour for what's ahead. Ever trying out new things. There some who are not good at implementing but are good at having future five or ten year plans although the implementation of them looks far fetched and too good to be true. You need to strike a balance of all the three ways of living. 

As for Jabez, he rose up to counter his past by praying to God for a bright future. You don’t have to be imprisoned by your past, neither should you live in it's shadows. You need to arise in the power of God and move on. Past minded preachers make things worse by pointing men to the curses in their lineage, in every service telling them how they have to break the curses of their fathers. The good news is that we look to the past to the victory Christ won on our behalf that has a present effect and future effect on all that pertains us. 

Child of God, don't allow to be hindered by your past. Your chains are gone, you have been set free, by Jesus. Awake to that reality and move into your destiny.